KWN (Kid Witness News) program started with 19 public schools in the United States in 1989. During the 1990´s, the program spread throughout the U.S. and Canada, and with the dawn of the 21st century, the expansion reached a global scale.
From around 2005 onward, workshops were organized to present kids with video shooting and film-making lessons by professionals. 2014 marked the 25th anniversary of KWN. It’s our sincere wish that the program’s global exchange activities continue to expand with the participation of children from even more countries and regions.
2024
KWN’s 35th anniversary
2023
KWN Japan’s 20th anniversary
KWN Global Summit 2023 was held online. For the 2023 event, over 3,000 children from 200 teams from 9 countries around the world, including Brazil, China, Cambodia, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Japan, the United States, and Vietnam, took part in the video production project.
2022
KWN Global Summit 2022 was held online. In addition to the existing KWN Kids Award and KWN Fans Award, the Panasonic Award, which is voted on by Panasonic employees, was also added.
2021
The event was held online for the second time. New initiatives included a supportive participation program and the KWN Fans Award.
2020
The Global Summit was held online for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With Panasonic Center TOKYO as the key station, connecting all the countries online, participants learned about the SDGs and tried their hand at animation filmmaking workshops.
2019
KWN’s 30th anniversary
The Global Contest Award Week 2019 and KWN Global Summit 2019 were held in Tokyo.
2018
KWN Japan’s 15th anniversary
The KWN Global Contest 2018, KWN Global Summit 2018, and Global Awards Ceremony were held in Tokyo.
2017
KWN Global Summit 2017 and Global Awards Ceremony were hold in Tokyo, to give the opportunity for the children in the world to think about future in the concept was "To Create Our Future Together".
2016
KWN Global Contest Global Awards Ceremony was held in Rio du Janeiro in Brazil, in the special support of International Paralympic Committee.
2015
KWN Global Contest Global Awards Ceremony was held in Singapore for the first time in Asia, commemorating Singapore National Foundation 50th Year.
2014
KWN’s 25th anniversary
The 2014 KWN Global Contest Global Awards Ceremony was held at the Panasonic Corporation of North America Headquarters in Newark, New Jersey. The United States is the original home of KWN which started 25 years ago.
Number of kids that have participated - a total of 180,000 as of August 2016, Kids from more than 553 schools in 19 countries/region have participated. The number of children cultivating their communication skills and learning the importance of teamwork by creating KWN videos is increasing by 5,000 to 10,000 annually.
2013
KWN Global Contest Global Awards Ceremony was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.
2012
KWN Global Contest Awards ceremony was held in London, U.K
2011
KWN Global Contest Awards ceremony was held in Hollywood, U.S.A.
2010
Video archive site with a search engine "KWN Global Library" was launched.
An International exchange using Panasonic’s HD Visual Communication System was held between Japan and Canada.
2009
KWN's 20th anniversary
2008
The annual KWN Global Contest was officially established.
2007
International exchanges among KWN schools increased.
2006
An official "KWN Forum" started on the Internet.
2005
An "EXPO 2005 Special Contest" was held in conjunction with the "EXPO 2005 Aichi Japan".
2004
International Award established. At this point, an accumulated total of more than 70,000 children had participated from around the world.
2003
KWN programs were launched in Japan.
2002
KWN programs were launched in Europe, and Asia.
1991
KWN began in Canada.
1989
The KWN program started in the United States.
Other Activities Contents
The photographs and videos are uploaded onto this website based on prior consent from each Kid Witness News (KWN) participating school as owners.
The KWN participating school can remove their photos and/or videos from this website, by requesting officially to Panasonic Corporation.
KWN(Kid Witness News) is a global hands-on video education program for elementary and secondary school children, supported by Panasonic.